**5. References**


<sup>\*</sup> Corresponding Author

[3] Rattner BA., Scheuhammer AM.,Elliott JE. History of Wildlife Toxicology and the Interpretation of Contaminant Concentrations in Tissues.in:Beyer WN., Meador JP. (eds.) Environmental Contaminants in Biota: Interpreting Tissue Concentrations, 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press; 2011. p9-44.

102 New Approaches to the Study of Marine Mammals

**Author details** 

Frank A.P.C. Gobas

**Acknowledgement** 

**5. References** 

Corresponding Author

 \*

Juan José Alava\*

*Ecuador* 

to control pests and vectors in developing countries.

*Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada* 

*Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada*

were given by the Galapagos National Park.

*School of Resource & Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment,* 

*School of Resource & Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment,* 

*Fundación Ecuatoriana para el Estudio Estudio de Mamíferos Marinos (FEMM), Guayaquil,* 

The author thanks P. Ross, J. Elliott, A. Harestad and L. Bendell for his valuable insights to improve this manuscript. Special thanks to the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, the Galapagos National Park and the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Centre for their support and logistic field assistance.We are indebt with S. Salazar, D. Páez-Rosas, G. Jimenez-Uzcátegui, M. Cruz, P. Martinez, G. Merlen, J. Geraci, P. Howorth and the volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center in Santa Barbara (E. Stetson, C. Powell, D. Noble, N. Stebor, D. Storz and S. Crane) for their assistance in the field work and live capture of pups. Official permits for carrying out this research and exporting of samples

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*Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador* 

Our findings provide sound scientific information on food chain contamination and potential ecological impacts in the Galapagos that can be used for conservation plans at the ecosystem level, and portrays the implications for environmental management and control of bioaccumulative, persistent and toxic contaminants (e. g. DDT). Finally, this study serves as a reference point against which possible future impact of DDT use in tropical marine ecosystems can be measured, underlying the use of more environmental friendly substances


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**Chapter 5** 

© 2012 Wise et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Skin Biopsy Applications in Free Ranging Marine** 

**Mammals: A Case Study of Whale Skin Biopsies** 

**as a Valuable and Essential Tool for Studying** 

**Marine Mammal Toxicology and Conservation** 

The need to study, evaluate and understand the impacts of marine pollution on marine life is real and urgent. We depend on the ocean for food, transportation, economic gain, leisure and to enhance the quality of our lives. The residence times of pollutants in ocean water are short. The pollutants either settle to the bottom and attach to sediments or enter the food chain and accumulate in marine organisms. These outcomes mean that the only effective ways to assess marine pollution are to study the concentrations of pollutants in sediments or to study them in marine organisms. The average depth of the world ocean is 3,790 meters making it technically impractical to assess pollutants in sediments worldwide because of the great ocean depths under extreme pressures and vast amount of area. Thus, the best approach to assessing ocean pollution is to study it in marine organisms and, because of their relationship to humans (both biologically, culturally and inspirationally) and their ability to integrate air, water and prey, the best marine organisms to focus on are marine mammals.

There are many marine mammal species. Many of them are listed as endangered or threatened. A species that is considered to be one of the most endangered in the world is the North Atlantic right whale. Their population numbers only about 400 individuals [1]. This species suffers detrimental losses to their population through boat strikes and entanglements in fishing gear [1]. Regulations are being implemented to prevent extinction; however, boat strikes and entanglements may not be the only reason the population numbers remain so low. Other factors, perhaps pollutants, might be affecting the overall

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Catherine F. Wise, John Pierce Wise, Jr., Sandra S. Wise and John Pierce Wise, Sr

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

survival and reproductive ability of these animals [2].

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/54212

**1. Introduction** 
